The election of for President of the United States in the year 2000 uncovered serious problems with voting systems in the United States. That year, the office of the President was decided by a margin of less than 500 votes. Controversy was rampant as recounts were performed on punch cards that were used as voting ballots. The American public was dismayed as the press reported that many ballots did not accurately relay the intent of individual voters. Specifically, many voters did not punch all the way through such ballots, leaving the chads hanging on the ballot. Controversy swirled around whether various ballots should be counted or disregarded because of such voter mistakes. Perhaps the most troubling aspect of these circumstances is that the office of the presidency was decided by a margin that was much less than the number of ballots that were rejected because of voter mistakes, etc.
When the election was finally decided, America resolved to revamp her voting systems to ensure that such a situation was never repeated. In particular, a proper voting system should be much more accurate and reliable. Unfortunately, a significant number of the voting systems in the various counties in the United States employ the problematic and outdated voting technologies and should be updated. As a result, there is a significant cost to replace all outdated voting systems with sufficiently reliable voting machines. For many localities, this cost may place new and reliable voting machines out of reach.